International Student Challenges: The following are excerpted from a report compiled by the students of English 1003, Fall 2011
The biggest challenges
• Language
• Culture Shock (food!)
• Loneliness and homesickness
• Forming friendships
• Adjusting to the Classroom
Adaptation
I remember in the first day here I went to the gym to play basketball. When those guys said “Let’s shoot for team,” and stood in line waiting to make free throw, I just held the ball next to them and had no idea what they were doing. I think I was just like an idiot. Then I realized that even the basketball rule is different from my homeland, and I would have a lot to learn besides the courses. It would be a long way to go.
Communication
My biggest challenge is listening. It is difficult for me to understand what Americans are talking about. Because some people talk very fast, so I cant grasp the meaning of what they are trying to convey. Besides, they abbreviate words and use slangs occasionally which may confuse me.
As for me, the biggest challenge is communication. I remembered what I first came here three years ago, it was very difficult for me to understand what others talked about especially during conversation. I was in Dallas, Texas for the first year. Texas people have special accent, and their accent make it even harder for me to understand. So, I just pay more attention to what others speak, and ask them to repeat politely.
Cultural Knowledge
My biggest challenges as an incoming international student are that I am not familiar with the geography and economy of the United States. I need to study to understand geographical and economical references made in my classes. I also need to use the dictionary to understand what I am reading. This means that I must spend twice as much time in my preparation for class as the American students who are in my class. It is difficult to understand the new vocabulary I hear in an academic setting. Many times I feel alone personally and culturally in my large classes, which makes it difficult to understand class expectations.
Ways of Thinking
My biggest challenge as an incoming international student is about how to fit in American culture. As an international student, I find that the thinking mode is different from my American friends and me. I usually have a complete different view point with American people about one thing which sometimes makes us feel uncomfortable about each other. Before I came to America, I had been studying in China for about 15 years. I had been told that modesty is a virtue. In Chinese culture, modesty also can mean keep quiet and don’t be too active. When I first attended a Lab discussion class, I felt uncomfortable about my American teammates. And I know that they were also quite uncomfortable with me. Our teacher divided our whole class into four groups. Each group had to come up with an opinion about a question posted on the power point. During discussion, my teammates were so aggressive with each other. They all thought themselves are right and no one wanted to keep quiet and listen to other people. So I just sat there and no one wanted to know my viewpoint about that question since I’m not active about showing my viewpoint.
Academic challenges
I am taking a women’s studies class and the professor gives us reading assignments every time, and it is the biggest challenge for me. The first reason why I am having difficulty is the quantity of the readings. Even though other students find it easy, it is very hard for me because I cannot read as fast as native speakers. Also vocabulary used in academic articles is too difficult to understand. I need to look words up in the dictionary and it takes a lot of time. Furthermore international students have less knowledge about American history, politics, and American unique way of thinking. In order to make up for lack of understanding, I tried to listen to the lectures carefully. I learn a lot from other students’ debates as well as lectures from professors. Also I talked to my professor about my difficulties and asked for the advice. She suggested that I translate the summaries in the textbooks into Japanese and try to understand the theme of the article, and make sure to understand important vocabulary including technical words.
Making Conversation
I have always thought the biggest challenge comes from informal communication which affects both my daily life and academic learning, especially in discussion class. As most students are having free chat in informal English and usually speaking unclearly in the class, it’s hard for an international student to get involved in their conversation, which to some degree creates the difficulty in the discussion-centered course. For example in my communication discussion class, the TA gave us a task and divided us in groups. We need to simulate a communication situation in which 2 people negotiate with each other and the other one acts as a mediator. I was given the role as a mediator, but I can’t even understand what the other two are saying.
Walls
Last semester when I lived on campus with my American roommate, there was a small party for my roommate in our dorm. His friends were invited to the party. But I just found that to participate in their conversations too hard as I don’t know what they are talking about. Parts of the difficulties come from the culture, but I think the main reason is about the language. I believe to get over this kind of challenge needs time to get adjust to and courage to speak up. On the other hand, I think the effect of the International Center is limited. Because more and more international students have been admitted by UCONN, the university has the duty to create a bigger and more functional international center which is aimed at helping them adapt to the life in a foreign country.
Hunger
The challenge for me as an international student here is food. I really like Chinese food, especially the home cooking. My mum would prepare lots of home cooking for me. I remember when I was about to come to US. My parents were so worried about what can I eat over there, but I never worried. Instead, I was really excited about this, and thought I will love it because I can taste some very different kinds of food. It was true at the beginning of the year I used to love every single dish that appeared on the table. For example, mash potato, pan cake, fried shrimp, French fries, macaroni and cheese, and even broccoli were my favorite. However, after half of the year, I feel I don’t want to eat them anymore, because the same kinds of food just repeat week after week. I really missed Chinese food. At Storrs campus they do not have lots of cafeterias, and it is really far away from cities. Thus, I have to eat on the campus every day. Just like what I expected before, the food here is really simple and lacks variety. So I soon get sick of it. It makes me not want to go to the dining hall. Fortunately, there is one place on the campus selling Chinese food called Panda Express. I can go there every day and it was good at the beginning of the year. However, after having three months of Panda Express, I was really sick of that too, because they provide the exactly same tasting food every day. I even can recite the menu now.
Getting Lost
The first time when I came here, I felt lost. Literally lost. Because the map from google is exactly the four cardinal directions that the north is upper, the south is lower, east right, west left. But it doesn’t show exact building and clear road view. And the map that I was given from staffs of orientations is colored and even shows the shape of building but it isn’t follow the cardinal directions. It’s a little bit hard to find the way to go somewhere. And there is no direction as well as map of bus route at bus stops or terminals. Of course I can see these maps on the internet but there is not only one bus line. And sometimes I go to somewhere by walking but want to come back by bus, I don’t know which bus I should take.